TinkerThe order, written out at Larkspur’s end.
Chapter 1 of 7
A shared secret
Larkspur Supply Co. wants hinges from Brightwater Fasteners, a supplier it has never met. Every message crosses an open line.
This chapter: How do you lock a message, and how does the key get there?
About this chapter
You will learn
- One key locks and opens
- A locked message is noise to anyone else
- Sending the key sends the secret
Words you’ll meet
- Encryption
- Turning a message into noise that only the right key turns back.
- Key
- The secret that locks and opens a message; here one key does both.
- Ciphertext
- The locked message: to anyone without the key it looks like random bytes.
Step 1 of 4
turns the order into noise that only a turns back. Whatever crosses the counter, the eavesdropper sees.
Predict what she can read.